U.S. congressmen urge reunions of divided Korean-American families

Published : 2014-03-08 11:15
Updated : 2014-03-08 11:15

Four U.S. congressmen submitted a resolution to a House committee calling for the reunion of Koreans in the United States with their long-lost families in North Korea, according to the Library of Congress.

The measure was sponsored by Rep. Charles Rangel, Howard Coble, John Conyers and Samuel Johnson, all Korean War veterans.

"The division on the Korean Peninsula separated more than 10,000,000 Korean family members, including some who are now citizens of the United States," said the resolution, referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs Thursday.

While the two Koreas recently allowed temporary reunions of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War, many Korean Americans are waiting for a chance to meet their kin in the communist nation for the first time in more than 60 years, it added.

The resolution says North Korea's willingness to start family reunions between Koreans there and in the U.S. would "signify making progress on the humanitarian front and foster dialogue towards building peace."

In February, the four U.S. lawmakers sent a letter to the North's leader, Kim Jong-un, calling for such family reunions and the release of Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American man detained in the nation. (Yonhap)